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The Basics: Toro restaurant information

Toro

1704 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118
617-536-4300

Toro restaurant information
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Since its 2005 opening, Toro, nestled in the South End, has become Boston's premiere destination for authentic and innovative Spanish-style tapas. With its cozy, comfortable atmosphere, extensive menu of traditional pinchos and tapas, and exclusively Spanish wine list, Toro offers all the best features of authentic Spanish tapas bars.

Guests can choose innovative cocktails like signature Sangria, or celebrate by passing around a porron filled with cava. Whether shaking off the winter chill by the fireplace, or dining al fresco on the patio, this all-season hot spot is not to be missed.

News and Events at Toro restaurant

Vinny's Tip Jar
This Memorial Day, the Hotel Commonwealth hosts Vinny's Tip Jar, a fundraiser and auction in support of Vinny Sapochetti ...

A Caliente Night in the South End
On Friday, May 4th, friends of the Hurley School in the South End will be taking over the Ben Franklin ...

Where's the Beef? At the BCAE
On Thursday, April 19th,the Boston Center for Adult Education is hosting What's Your Beef?, their first annual fundraiser ...

Jamie Bissonnette

Chef at Toro

Chef Jamie Bissonnette at Toro

An early bloomer in the kitchen, Chef Jamie Bissonnette gravitated towards The Discovery Channel's cooking shows instead of cartoons.

By the age of nineteen he had already earned his Culinary Arts degree from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. His early twenties were spent eating and working in Paris, San Francisco, New York and Phoenix. On the local Boston scene he's headed up the kitchen at Peking Tom's, Pigalle, Andy Husband's Tremont 647 and Kenmore Square behemoth Eastern Standard.

In 2007 he was recruited for the steakhouse KO Prime, winning praise for his modern take on this classic fare. Shortly after Bissonnette took the helm, The Improper Bostonian named him "Rising Star Chef" and KO Prime "Best New Restaurant." In the fall of 2008, Bissonnette joined Ken Oringer as executive chef and partner of the acclaimed tapas restaurant Toro in Boston's South End and then together in late 2009 they opened the innovative Italian enoteca Coppa. StarChefs awarded Bissonnette Rising Star Chef that same year, and directly following Coppa was awarded 3 Stars in a rave review from the Boston Globe and honorable mention in Esquire's Best New Restaurants annual list.

Bissonnette is a local champion of nose-to-tail cuisine and is well-known locally and nationally for his exceptional charcuterie and passionate dedication to supporting local, sustainable purveyors. He was spokesperson for the Wisconsin Cheese Board in 2008, has been featured in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, and Edible Boston, among many others and in 2011 was awarded the prestigious honor of Food & Wine's first ever People's Choice Best New Chef.

As chef and owner of Coppa and Toro in Boston, Bissonnette continues to helm the kitchens of both award-winning restaurants, and can be found at either (and often both) nightly overseeing his menus of innovative small plates and nose to tail cooking.

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Dictionary
 
Cabrales
1. noun A noted Spanish blue cheese.
Chorizo
1. noun Crumbly, spiced pork sausage.
Confit
1. noun Meat (usually goose, duck or pork) that is slowly cooked in its own fat and preserved with the fat packed around it as a seal.
Escabeche
1. noun A Spanish dish of poached or fried fish covered with a spicy marinade.
Farro
1. noun Tuscany's mainstay, a small, light brown grain.
Foie gras
1. noun Expensive, silk-textured goose or duck liver that has been enlarged by a process you don't want to read about if you're going to eat this dish.
Gazpacho
1. noun A Spanish soup served chilled, originally a puree of cucumber, tomato, onion, bell pepper, celery, vinegar, breadcrumbs, olive oil and garlic.
Hummus
1. noun Mashed chickpeas flavored with lemon juice, garlic and oil.
Jus
1. noun French for juice, jus also refers to the unthickened juices from a piece of roasted meat.
Lovage
1. noun A celery-like vegetable.
Oxtail
1. noun A very flavorful cut of meat usually from beef or veal tail. Can be very tough so, often requires long, slow braising.
Paella
1. noun A saffron-flavored rice dish with meats, vegetables and shellfish; named for the large shallow pan in which it is traditionally cooked.
Panko
1. noun Coarse breadcrumbs used in Japanese cooking.
Panna cotta
1. noun Egg-less Italian custard.
Queso
1. noun Spanish for cheese.
Ratatouille
1. noun A Provençal dish of eggplant, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs in olive oil.
Risotto
1. noun Italian dish made from rice cooked by intermittently adding small amounts of stock or broth. Other ingredients are added as required.
Romesco
1. noun Catalonian sauce of finely ground tomatoes, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, almonds and olive oil.
Tapenade
1. noun Thick paste - made from olives, anchovies, capers, lemon juice, olive oil and seasonings - that can be a condiment or a spread.
Tartare
1. noun Ground or finely chopped, seasoned raw meat (traditionally beef). May or may not come mounded, and with a raw egg.
Za'atar
1. noun An herb, or spice blend of sesame seeds, sumac, and herb za'atar that is used in Middle Eastern cooking, sprinkled on bread or on grilled meat.